Former Inuksuk student plans Sept. 28 concert in Iqaluit

“I have good memories of Iqaluit”

SAMANTHA DAWSON

Jazz and folk singer-songwriter Fawn Fritzen will perform a “house concert” Sept. 28 at a private residence in Iqaluit. After 17 years away, Fritzen is excited to see the changes that have taken place since the last time she was in town. (PHOTO COURTESY F. FRITZEN)

Jazz performer Fawn Fritzen remembers Iqaluit fondly.

The Whitehorse-based singer-songwriter plans to return to Iqaluit this month for a house concert — part of a growing trend of having concerts inside people’s homes – after a 17-year absence from the community.

From 1993 to 1995, Fritzen attended Inuksuk High School, where she sang at her graduation ceremony.

“Even though I lived in Iqaluit for only two years, my time there made a deep and lasting impression on me,” she said.

Fritzen’s mother worked at Nunavut Arctic College and her father worked for the power corporation, and “I just really loved my time there.”

Fritzen found people to be very open: “you could be anybody, you could just be you.”

Iqaluit helped shape Fritzen’s outlook when she was a teenager.

“Moving there was really liberating. It did a lot for my self-confidence,” she said.

Now, after getting in touch with her old music teacher, Chris Coleman, Fritzen will return to Iqaluit to offer jazz and folk tunes to about 40 Iqaluit residents.

Fritzen, who plays piano and sings, will play a few different styles of songs during the concert, including pieces she’s written.

“It’s a fairly new thing,” Fritzen said of house concerts, adding that she’s looking forward to sharing her music.

Fritzen’s been living in Whitehorse for the past seven years where she and Simpson perform in the Frantic Follies Vaudeville Revue, a show that depicts the entertainment seen by the stampeders of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.

After Iqaluit, the singer spent a year in Germany with her grandparents, and then went to university in Ottawa where she studied musical theatre as well as business.

After meeting her husband, Fritzen then moved to Fort Liard in the Northwest Territories.

The house concert takes pace Sept. 28., at 7:30 p.m. at house #5037 on the Plateau. A seat is $15, and those interested in attending should email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to reserve.